


Family Has Your Back

by TheIceQueen



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Always Keep Fighting, Crying, Doctors & Physicians, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Secrets, Gen, Hurt, Hurt Jared Padalecki, Mental Health Issues, SPN Genre Bingo, Secrets, Siblings, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters, Suicidal Thoughts, talk about suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 13:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17448053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIceQueen/pseuds/TheIceQueen
Summary: When the name J. Padalecki was a the top of the chart in her hands, the doctor wondered of she could even make it into the room. That man had had a huge role in her life.Written for the SPN Genre Bingo. Square filled: Always Keep Fighting





	Family Has Your Back

“J. Padalecki?”

The young doctor’s stomach sunk. She looked at the name on the chart again and then at the nurse who had handed it to her.

“He’s in exam room four. The people he came in with asked that we limited the amount of personal around him.”

The doctor looked at the chart once more and this time noticed that her hands were shaking. Exam room four was a bit out of the way from the ER, but still just around the corner.

“We thought it would be best to give you the case since your shift just started and we can hold of on giving you any other for a while.” The nurse had clearly noticed the hesitation in the otherwise professional and secure doctor. “Are you okay to take this case? We can pass it on. He said he would wait as long is he had to, but he’s been in there for almost…”

“I’m good.”

The doctor spun around ignoring that her voice had just sounded just as insecure as she felt about this meeting.

* * *

“Sorry for the wait Mr. Padalecki.”

“Jared. And it’s quite alright, I know you’re busy.” He smiled and looked at his elevated ankle. “And this is hardly a priority.”

The doctor tightened her grip on the clipboard and willed her hands not to shake, as she walked over to his bed.

“Every patient is a priority. Let’s have a look.”

The silent man in the corner, almost as tall as Jared, passed the doctor. “I’ll grab some coffee then. Shout when you need me to carry your ass outta here.”

Jared chuckled and shook his head, then looked at the woman. “Sorry about that.”

“No need, we hear worse around here.”

“I’m sure you do.” Jared smiled at her and did his best to help when she lifted his leg to get the pillows away.

She was actually amazed of herself so far. She’d worried that she wouldn’t have been able to form a single word, let alone walk into the room.

The examination went as any normal one, maybe a bit less conversation. She was sure that at any other given moment Jared Padalecki was among regular people, there would be lots of questions, but she couldn’t allow herself to go down that path, so she kept it strictly professional. Jared seemed to pick up on the short answers she gave when he asked something, so soon they only talked about the swelling and the pain in his lower leg and foot.

It seemed to be just a twisted ankle, a bad one at that, but still nothing to be too worried about. She still needed x-rays to make sure. So she sent them on their way and walked towards the nurse’s station to see if there was a case she could start up while they were there.

* * *

Before she knew that she’d turned around she found herself in the locker room with her phone in her hand and her sister’s number on the screen. Her thumb hovered over the green button. She talked to her sister every day, but it was 6 am on a Wednesday. If her sister didn’t hear the phone and couldn’t get a hold of her when she called back, she would be scared out of her mind.

Her pager went of and not thinking she put her phone in her pocket and for some reason cleared her throat before leaving the room.

* * *

At the door to exam room four, she stopped. Surprised at herself, she shook her head to snap herself out of it, but it still took her five or so deep breaths before she could convince herself that she could do this.

“We got the pictures back, Mr. Padalecki.”

“Jared.”

“Jared. Sorry.”

She pulled the pictures up on the screen and looked them over, while internally swearing at herself that she took so long because she had a hard time focusing through her glossy eyes.

“Doctor? Is everything okay?”

Jared didn’t sound worried about his foot. More curious as to what was going on.

“Everything looks fine.” Her voice broke and instinctively she tried hiding it with a cough, but the way Jared studied her, he had obviously noticed something.

She turned her back on him and picked up the splint he was going to wear after the swelling had gone down. There was nothing she could do to stop the tear escaping her eye. Angry at herself she wiped it off and tightened her jaw to make it all stop. Of cause she could do this.

“Doctor… I hope I’m not meddling with something that’s none of my business, but are _you_ okay?”

Then the levee broke and more tears followed. She wiped her face, but more tears just rolled silently over her cheeks.

“I’m good. I’m sorry about this.”

“No need to be.”

She wanted to turn around and hug the man so bad. He was being perfect, even when she was a mess and he should have had a doctor who could just fix him and send him home. She could hear him moving around in the bed behind her and without thinking she turned and looked at him.

“You shouldn’t get up. We need to get you crutches first.”

He paused and looked at her, and she realized how red faced she must have been.

“Okay, if you say so.”

He hissed as he lifted his hurt ankle, and the doctor was there quick to help him get it situated. She grabbed a tissue paper and wiped her face.

“Again. I apologize for that.”

Jared leaned back against the pillow behind his back and smiled. “And, again. There’s no need to be. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Getting closer to calm each second, she just smiled and shook her head.

“You’ve already helped.”

The silence only lasted for a few second but it was deafening and felt like an eternity.

“Now, I think that need an explanation… I mean if you feel up to that.” He gestured at the chair the other man had occupied earlier.

The doctor bit her lip, weighing her options and finally nodded and pulled the chair closer.

“I don’t even know where to start.” She looked at her hands fiddling between her knees.

“Okay, answer this…” She didn’t look up but she could hear Jared’s voice was back to his cheerful persona and it made her feel more at ease. “Have you ever seen the how Supernatural?”

A smile spread across her whole face and she couldn’t hold back a chuckle as she looked up and the Jared, she’d seen on countless YouTube videos and behind the scenes clips.

“You know I have.”

He nodded at her to go on.

“I’ve seen it since the beginning. I used to watch it with my sister, actually we still talk every week after we’ve seen the new episode.”

“I’m flattered. Good to know we have at least two people along for the long run.”

It felt weird and safe at the same time, talking to this stranger, but to her he’d been a part of her life for so many years.

“I watch everything; the show, the conventions and the interviews. And when you stated the Always Keep Fighting campaign, I wanted to support it. I’ve struggled with depression for a few years and at that time I was scared my sister was going the same way. I was in school so I only had the opportunity to buy a hoodie.”

She looked down again and bit her lip. That hoodie was still a sore spot for her, and still the only thing she’d ever bought from the campaign.

“Hey.” She’d almost forgotten that she was talking to someone. How do one forget that Jared Padalecki is in the room? “Everything counts. You did your part _and_ every time you wear it you send a message.”

The words fell on a dry place and pulled her back on track to keep going.

“My sister was strictly a fan of the show. The only thing she watched outside of it was the gag-reel.”

The doctor took a moment to share a smile with the actor over that one. She was sure they didn’t think of the same part of all of those clips, but it didn’t matter; it was always funny.

Jared’s face turned darker and she realized that hers had done so first. She looked down and involuntarily started picking her nails.

“We lived together when we were both students. I came home one day and found her sleeping on the couch, hugging my hoodie.”

The doctor paused. Jared didn’t speak, and when she was ready to continue, she looked up and he nodded at her with a slight smile.

“She’d seen me wearing it and just a week or two before, she’d asked about it, and I told her about the campaign. When I woke her up, she apologized for going through my closet and then flushing all the drugs in the apartment. Even the cough syrup.”

Tears ran down the doctor’s face again, but this time she didn’t do anything about it. She just sat there, waiting for someone to do something. She wasn’t sure what, and she couldn’t expect Jared to do anything. She just knew that right now, sitting there, telling this to Jared Padalecki, was too much.

“Hey…” The voice was almost not audible but the hand on her arm was very much there. “You said that you still talk about the show?”

Still looking down and with tears dripping on the floor, she nodded.

“Good. She’s still here.”

She nodded again and smiled to herself. “Yeah, I got her help. She slept in my room, with the hoodie for a month or so. I still see it lying around her place sometimes.” She wiped her eyes and looked up.

“Mr. Pa… Jared. You should keep your ankle elevated.”

“Amazing how you turn right back into being a doctor when I step out of line.”

She stood up and helped him get his legs back into the bed.

* * *

When she was done telling him how to put on the splint and had made sure he knew how to maneuver the crutches without straining himself, even though he already had that pretty much down, she gave him the all clear to leave.

“Hey doc.” Jared stopped before he got to the door. “Do you want to send your sister a picture?”

The doctor smiled and for a short second her chin trembled, but she shut that down quick. Jared took an unfilled form from a clipboard on the foot end of the bed and wrote a note he and the doctor held up while the still unnamed man took the picture.

Jared hugged her tight and the doctor only read the note on her phone after he’d left.

_I’m glad you’re still here. You deserve to be, and your sister deserves you._

**Author's Note:**

> About an hour and a half ago I gave up trying to sleep and had to sit up to write this. It's 6 am and I haven't slept since the two hours I got around noon yesterday, but I needed to post this before I go to work today. This is deeply rooted in a personal story that I apparently needed to write a version of.
> 
> Leave me a comment please. I love comments.


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